Spiritual thread. Reminder that you can train your mind and body...

Spiritual thread. Reminder that you can train your mind and body, but they will both be lacking without the third of the trinity: Spirituality. I'm not talking about religion or religious doctrines. I'm talking about a real connection with your own personal understanding of what god is or should be. Without such a thing, one could say we're just mindless robots, reacting to stimuli, chasing dopamine and serotonin in various ways.

So we have found another solution. Connection to the all permeating, cosmic consciousness. With this comes the knowledge that everything that currently exists is a result of everything that has happened up to this point. Everything is as it's supposed to be. There is no "good" or "bad", only enjoyable experiences, and ones to learn from. You either learn to love your life the way it is, or hate it the way it is, and want to die. Duality, good and bad, right and wrong, is an illusion. Everything just "is". Constant connection with this is called Zen. With this, you can handle any situation, with serenity.

Background on me and how I came to this frame of mind: 2014, I met the love of my life. We dated for a year and some change, and started doing heroin together. After a few months of this, we realized it was killing our relationship, and decided to quit. We abstained for about a month, and decided to do it "one last time" on Christmas. She died. It sent me into a downward spiral of depression and heavy drug use for the next year and a half. Finally, I went to rehab a second time in August this year. There, I decided to let go, and finally said "God, whatever you are, I need your help. I can't do this on my own." In a few hours, i was in complete bliss and ecstasy. I'm running out of room to post, so I'll elaborate more in later posts.

After this, I realized that all our worries, sadness, depression, etc, are a lack of connection with what "is". I made a post on facebook a while back that encompasses it all. I'll copy and paste it here. It's a long one, but it all came from the heart.

Sup...so my first spiritual experience I had when I was almost 21, almost 7 years ago.

But only recently I've realized just how important being physically fit and in shape is to a healthy mind, to think clearly and to respect yourself.

Physical ability you gain even from jogging and doing pushups and curl ups is incredible. And it clears your mind. Something so simple does so much.

And also this is sort of off topic but I noticed cranberry juice seems to be very wholesome, you feel so much better after drinking it. I almost feel like it's better than OJ.

Physical training can only take you so far. The people on /fit/ are still miserable, because they forget that they are in essence, spiritual beings confined to a physical body.

I believe that is very important. If you don't face your reality the way it is, the good, the bad, and everything, then you can't really start making progress.

I think that's why people tend to massively change after a painful experience, usually emotional or mental, but for some people that are stubborn sometimes it takes a car accident or something else drastic.

I wonder how much bad things that people do or get into are brought on by their own negligence and negative thought patterns? 'Cause it sure seems like a lot, even personally looking back at my life, 80 or 90% of all the negative things could've been avoided just by a bit of wisdom and mental clarity.

Here is the facebook post. Part 1:

Long post ahead, but if you read it, I'm sure you'll get something out of what I'm about to type out. If you think it's too long, scroll to the bottom and read the last paragraph.

Everyone who has ever lived, at one point, has felt a sense of "emptiness", of something "missing", that surely, if they were to fill, they would be complete.

What is this thing we are missing?
Is it drugs? No, because drugs only distract us from the feeling of emptiness.

Entertainment? No. Only a temporary distraction.

People or partners, a "mate"? No. Once again, temporary. They may make us feel happy, but that is codependency. Not true happiness.

We are made up of the same atoms and energy that comprises this universe, correct? So it goes to reason that, in essence, our body and mind are the universe experiencing itself from a subjective viewpoint. (cont.)

(my name removed for anonymity), in essence, is an amalgam of my own and others' ideas of me. The society I have grown up in, has its own sets of ideas of what the ideal person should be. Combined with my own set of ideas as to what I should be, it creates a forever unattainable "goal" for me, and is something other than what I actually am. We often spend our whole lives trying to manage a perfect balance of approval from society, and approval of what we think we should be, creating a state of dissatisfaction with ourselves. We become unhappy, incomplete, "empty", so to speak.

The reality is, you will never achieve this perfect ideal, and thus never be complete. We do the things we do out of fear that others will think of us, and curse ourselves behind closed doors because we do not measure up to ourselves. We identify as this amalgam of society's and our own ideas of us, creating a false "self". When we get approval from society for our actions and thoughts, we feel good about our "selves", temporarily alleviating our fear of not measuring up. When we achieve something by our own actions, such as becoming self sufficient, building a name for ourselves, owning a successful business, all on our own, we become proud of ourselves. It feels good. We've achieved something, we're one step closer to our own ideas of perfection. When there is an inevitable failure, large or small, that fades away, and we are left with emptiness, a sense of being imperfect, incomplete. We do everything we can to alleviate this, or at least distract us from this. Drugs, sex, entertainment, burying ourselves in work, etc. But at the end of the day, it's always there.

>Without such a thing, one could say we're just mindless robots, reacting to stimuli, chasing dopamine and serotonin in various ways.
What makes you think we aren't?
>Connection to the all permeating, cosmic consciousness
Prove that such a thing exists.

So what is the solution? Nothing we do alleviates that emptiness. So where else is there to look? We may travel, see the world, do things on our bucket list, do drugs, have sex. None of this works, it only feeds the cycle of feeling empty, and doing things we feel will relieve that feeling. It's an endless loop. The solution is to stop feeding your false self, your ego, that amalgam of ideas of you and the perfect you. We define ourselves by the things we think and the actions we take. But is that really who we are? Surely we do not cease to exist when certain thoughts leave our head, nor when we have completed certain activities.

We operate the vehicle that is our body and mind, but we are not the vehicle itself. Do you confuse yourself and think you are the car while you drive it? Surely not. The solution is to completely surrender to the fact that you have no control over what happens, you have no control over what other people think or do, nor will you ever meet the perfect criteria you've created for yourself. You are an imperfect being. You will always fall short of your expectations for yourself. Why are we so afraid of this? We've been doing it all our life, yet we're still here. Still alive. We search for the meaning of life, the secrets of the cosmos, the big "Why?". The reality is, we as human beings are not meant to know, we will never know.

The solution is to stop looking, to stop seeking. To be thankful we are alive. The grass is already greener where we are. I think the reason we do not recognize this is that we've never been on the dead grass side of the fence to have a comparison. We take our whole lives for granted. When we are deprived of something for a while that we usually take for granted, we find that we have a new appreciation for it when we get it back, right? The solution is to appreciate every new moment for what it is, and not how much better it could be. You could, for example, die in the next few seconds. Then, that moment would never come. When people are almost hit by a bus for example, or robbed at gunpoint but not shot, they appreciate the moments afterward. To just be alive. And what a joy it is to just be alive! Money can't buy this. Drugs can't provide this. Sex can't satisfy this. People won't fill this. The reality is there's no emptiness. There is no "ideal world". This IS the ideal world. Whether you believe in God or not, we are not these false selves we fool ourselves into believing we are. We are the entity that observes our thoughts go by, that observes our body doing the actions it does.

Every unpleasant emotion, even that feeling of emptiness, can be traced back to fear. Fear that we will not measure up. Fear of what will happen. Fear of things that are out of control, such as other people's ideas of us. Things are going to happen whether you fear them or not. Embrace it, love things that happen and see them as either blessings or learning opportunities, instead of fearing things, and you will enjoy them instead of loathe them. They are neither good nor bad. They just are what they are. Nothing more.

All in all, we must embrace everything as it is, and fear is a lack of faith that everything will turn out the way we want it to, which is foolish, because we don't have control anyway over anything that happens as we are just miniscule specks in the universe. We will never fill that emptiness, because that emptiness was never there in the first place. That emptiness is a lack of gratitude for what we have, a lack of gratitude for life itself. No matter what your spiritual beliefs, you surely know that nothing is permanent, especially not life. We were not born to be unhappy, and nothing but ourselves can make us happy or unhappy. The grass is already green where we are, we cannot spend our whole lives looking for something to complete us, because we are already complete and have everything we need. We are not the things we've done or haven't done, nor are we ever going to meet ours or society's perfect standards. Embrace yourself with love.

I did the same thing when I prayed going home bawling my eyes out because my life was broken, no friends, no relationship, broken financially.

I asked God, I said am I a bad person? Why do these things keep happening to me? Do I deserve this? I didn't do it from a place of anger, I did it from a place of understanding because I just wanted all the negativity to stop.

Well after almost reaching a breaking point this overwheling sense of peace came over me, like a good strong guiding hand touches your heart or soul and calms you intensely. It was incredible, something out of this world, I mean the only thing I could compare it to is as a very little child being comforted by your mother, that pure love and warmth.

And this "feeling" said to me, not in words of course, but it just said, everything will be okay, you are good, you are fine, don't worry. Everything is good. Everything is fine. Everything is well.

A week later I found a job, something that was fitting my skills exactly, and it blew my mind.

I was addicted to heroin for about 2 years by the way. I smoked it from foil and bongs. Wasted lots of money. Lots of time.

I feel like the longer time you spend on heroin blocking away stimuli, pushing away negative emotions, not dealing with the problems in your life, the harder it is in recovery.

The sooner you face your problems, why you're using, and face it head on the smaller the hole you'll be climbing out from. But it's about perspective, looking at it like that can be overwhelming. It's about grace, being lucky you're alive, feel glad you'er alive, and taking it day by day with the right outlook.

Yes, I'm not even talking about lifting, when it turns into an obsession it's not healthy.

I'm saying being active enough to keep your body and mind in a clear state, at least 2 to 3 times a week.

I notice the difference of my state of mind when I jog every other day to when I stay inside for a whole month. The difference is staggering.

I don't have Facebook though. Can I still read it?

Oh you posted it here, I thought you were posting a link, my bad lol.

Nope. You're a physical being with delusions of being spiritual.

Do you believe you are the car, when you drive it? Surely not. Therefore you should also not confuse who you are, at the core, with your mind and body.

>prove such a thing exists
No amount of science will do such a thing. This transcends the physical. Until science can transcend using physical matter as instruments for experiments, that will never happen conventionally. This is why atheists are often miserable, chasing things that they think will make them happy.

I do not believe in a "God" in the religious sense. Therefore I feel no need to prove anything to you. You either get the concept, or you don't. This thread isn't for you.

Yes, how we view ourselves and how the outside world or people view us can be astonishingly different. That's where mental clarity, self-esteem, self-worth and all that good stuff comes in.

Why do you chose Sup Forums for this?

Is this spirituality or philosophy, you dumbass fgts?

Pretty sure they are related

Those two are one and the same at the core.
/x/ is not very active.

Okay so we know Jesus is an authority on spiritual shizz

so,

What's your opinion about jesus's "don't throw your pearls before swine" thingy in relation to Sup Forums ?

You do realize how this ties into for example what they teach in sales or believing in yourself.

That imagine how you feel when you are self reliant, how you feel when you have a successful business, when you've made 100,000 dollars, a million maybe....EMBODY how that feels and you will get there. EXUDE that confidence, and although I feel there is some truth to that and it can help us with our self improvement and success I feel if you use it dishonestly with people you are a poor man with no integrity, spiritually poor and corrupt.

But I believe that embodying what you want and believe in, embodying the ideals and values and actions you value the highest and most and start acting like the person who has those values, not the way you are right now, broken, stressed by life, full of anxieties, I believe that is the way out of problems, anxieties, and really the highway to improving yourself.

> Therefore you should also not confuse who you are, at the core, with your mind and body.
My mind and body is who I am at the "core". There's no little person inside me driving me.
>No amount of science will do such a thing
Then there's no reason to believe that it exists.
>This is why atheists are often miserable, chasing things that they think will make them happy.
Irrelevant.
>Therefore I feel no need to prove anything to you.
Then I feel no need to think your beliefs are rational.
>You either get the concept, or you don't.
There's a difference between understanding a concept and believing the concept.
>This thread isn't for you.
Yet here I am.

Spirituality is poorly defined. It's basically a nonsense word that can mean just about anything.

And that's why someone will always do more for someone they love than fear. Because love always trumps fear.

Gratitude, love, those are things to strive for and believe.

How did you come to all of this and when did you write this? That same day or when?

That emptiness is a lack of gratitude for what we have, a lack of gratitude for life itself.

Powerful words. I'm taking this, I'm keeping this if that's okay.

Deep stuff friend.

For me Jesus embodies pure clear values.

What did Jesus do, say, or live that isn't according to good values?

Tell me one thing.

>/x/ is not very active.

Okay then what are you looking for?

He emphasized the "next life" over this life, treating the things of this world as ultimately unimportant.

>What did Jesus do, say, or live that isn't according to good values?
he was a jew?

you talk like I think when I'm really high, I think it's god-teir shit but I know it's just ramblings in a poetic/profound tone with a questionmark at the end more often tthan not.

What it means is do not waste good things or good words on people that will ridicule you. There are many in tune people on B among the scum, BUT those looking will find.

Plus those that ridicule, mock, judge these types of words or teachings tend to be spiritually dead and their life is a mess or in disarray. So to each their own.

Jesus was a gentle man, a man of good values, but he was also a man of conviction and authority.

We have this delusion that authority is aggressive, loud, boisterous.

No, that's human aggression and power and greed. True authority is firm conviction in what you believe, firm conviction in the truth and what feels right, and what feels right and the truth is love, forgiveness, patience, perseverance, and even more love.

Bless your hearts those who are searching and I hope you find the truth.

Jesus is not who I believe to be the "savior". I am not Christian.

This thread is not for the "swine". They may benefit if they pay close attention and have an open mind, but I will not "lose my pearls" to a few opposing opinions.

I don't have to understand it. Hypothetically, if you knew all there is to know about the universe, would you be happy? No, because that takes away the surprise. Ambiguity is what makes life exciting.

When I had this miraculous realization, I also realized that trying too hard to understand it would ruin the experience.

The very act of seeking a "path" to enlightenment is what blocks the path.

I wrote all this a few weeks after getting out of rehab. Not the same day I had my awakening.

The skeptics in this thread are amusing, to say the least. Keep being skeptical of everything, it's a decent quality, but I had to abandon my own skepticism when I had this awakening, lest I lose it. There was a certain pull to "test" it, to see if it was genuine and to understand it fully, but at the same time I felt that it would ruin it. That much has proved true.

Rarely do we quiet our minds. We want constant excitement and things to distract us from the quietness, because we fear it. There is nothing to fear. Everything that will happen from seeing that has already happened, and will happen again.

Save it, it's all yours my friend.

I'm not looking for anything. Just good discussion. I'll ignore the shitposters and skeptics that cannot be swayed.

Meaning not giving them too much value, not obsessing over things, but still living life as a good person.

Jesus didn't teach that we need to suffer or be complete social rejects and shut down, just that we be good and walk in grace.

What's your point? I don't understand.

gay, I never said jesus is your savior, i said he is a spiritual authority meaning what he said has value.

the peals b4 swine thingy means instead of wasting your effort on people who don't have the ability to get what you're saying to put in some effort and find people who you can teach. like you wouldn't water a plastic plant but one that's growing in the ground is okay. jeeze

I'm only sharing this because I've had a profound spiritual experience where my life was saved twice in once night.

I'm convinced it was God or God's angels that intervened and saved my life because I saw it with my own two living eyes.

But we're just writing that way because that's they style friend, I could say abruptly and jaggedly, believe, do good, take positive action, don't be a cunt. Would that make you understand better?

>I don't have to understand it.
If you don't understand it, how can you say that you believe it? What exactly are you believing?
>Hypothetically, if you knew all there is to know about the universe, would you be happy?
Irrelevant. I care about what is true, not what might or might not make you happy.
>The very act of seeking a "path" to enlightenment is what blocks the path.
You close your eyes and fumble around in the dark, walking in circles and calling it progress, then have the gall to say that the man who sees that a path ends is blocked.

Yeah same with me, it took me about two years after my spiritual awakening to start changing my life because I kept denying it, kept ignoring it, kept trying to focus on other things, but it kept knocking and it embedded itself deep in my psyche and I know it's the truth because I can feel it.

Atheists go by what they think, intelligence, calculation, statistics. I go by what feels right and to me nothing has ever felt more right.

No, meaning that everything will be made right in the hereafter, that we should not obsess over the things of this world because we should obsess over the next.

My point is that, if there is no next world. Jesus' teaching are fundamentally bad and his advice terrible.

If you could manifest weed , and if I smoked that miracle stuff I think I'd be able to resonate with your vibration, just too jaded in my current state man. not saying that weed is necessary for spirituality, but when I wanna be lazy about it being high is awesome

True, but what they teach in sales is missing something. It teaches complete self-reliance, when the truth is that we are not gods, we cannot do everything on our own. If, say, someone was raped by their uncle and it adversely affected their life from that point on, they could not get over it on their own, correct? They need to talk about it, to let that pain go, to express their emotions. That requires another person. Sharing our pain helps us deal with it. Sharing our joy magnifies the joy.

In a way those skeptics and so called "atheists" are more spiritually in tune than many so called lukewarm religious people because they tend to question things, the skeptics, they look at society, they see it's broken, they're introspective, they're searching, they're questioning, they want to find the truth.

Alas we all have a different path to the truth but the ending result tends to be the same. Yet shame some people run out of life before they reach it.

I think it's the same, a distorted view either way, one indoctrinated by church, another indoctrinated by education, real spiritualist have an innate sense that they're a part of something much larger than themselves and a presence of the universe/god from a oyoung age without having to be told.usually.

Your arguing is irrelevant. The question you're not asking is "why are these people happy while I'm not?"

If there is one fact you can accept, it is that you will not know everything there is to know, nor will you be able to control everything.

Games would not be fun if we won all the time, would they? Nor would they if we knew everything there is to know about why things happen or why they're going to happen.

You take life too seriously. You're going to die someday. If you spend your entire life searching for answers to questions that can't be answered, you'll spend your whole life miserable. You only get one. In the end, you'll regret it. I will have no regrets when I die.

Do you realize how arrogantly stoic and foolish it is to think we, something as futile as bacteria, in the grandeur of the universe to say there is no God.

That's like your hamster saying you're not human. Come on son.

30 years ago speaking on a telephone with video instantly to someone across the world would seem crazy, now it's reality.

Science is good but science can't explain everything.

And some power that was able to get all of this universe in motion you think couldn't preordain our intellect, our scientific and technological advancements?

Come on, I don't claim to know the answers, but you don't claim to be so intelligent that you're convinced there is no God.

I mean scientifically speaking many people with incredibly high IQ and genius level are so called atheist, yet there are quite a few who are religious as well, and Christian as well.

It comes down to personal experience, what you're in tune with, what you believe, what you feel, and when your beliefs and expectations are shattered and you're hit with an experience or feeling that makes you feel transcended for weeks, months, or years, I'm sorry if you don't believe friend but to me it was more real than anything I've experienced in this whole world and it felt like the truth with not even a slight bit of doubt and to me it will always be the truth, the way, and the light.

What would you say about that?

Do you believe all our experience and stimuli is information going into a processor and user experience isn't important or feelings are just results of chemical stimuli?

Then please explain how some people stay addicted to drugs for 20 years and someone who has one spiritual experience in one day leaves all his addictions behind and never looks back.

What happens to that person and why can't scientists so called "recreate it" sunshine? Explain that.

Brother, what's on your mind? What are your anxieties, pains, and worries?

I'm telling you, the last 7 years of my life have been pure hell, I've had all kinds of problems. But now I'm starting to see the horizon, the light, and nothing has helped me more than getting the right state of mind about things and I'm only now in the last few months coming around about truly getting deep down to what I believe, why I do what I do, and how I need to turn my life around and I can do it effortlessly step by step, it doesn't have to be painful.

Why are you jaded? What's going on? Weed isn't necessary to think like this, you just need to destress, relax, and think, lay back and think, sit back and think...let go of the pressure and let your mind flow.

We are not animals, we are something more, that's why we're given our thoughts and our advanced brain to be more than just our impulses, like animals grazing in the field slave to every whim, emotion, and sexual urge.

Our minds are truly powerful, our minds is what liberates us from slavery of monotony and slavery to impulse.

>The question you're not asking is "why are these people happy while I'm not?"
First of all, I am happy with myself.
Second of all, your question is irrelevant. Again, what matters is what is true, not what might make you happy. If you start valuing happiness over truth, madness follows.
>If there is one fact you can accept, it is that you will not know everything there is to know, nor will you be able to control everything.
Sure. That's irrelevant.
>You take life too seriously.
You don't take life seriously enough. We have this one chance, this one brief moment of existence.
>If you spend your entire life searching for answers to questions that can't be answered, you'll spend your whole life miserable.
Unless the search itself provides enjoyment, which it does.
>In the end, you'll regret it.
Don't presume to know me.

I think it's arrogant to assume that there isn't an answer

it's like I know this 10/10 chick wont go out with me so I never ask her out, what about the possibility of her saying yes? even if it's minute it's the passion of life to go for it

or be a loser and have all the answers

Yes I believe that. I think our true nature is being social, we must have people around us. Why do those people with many friends, even when many of their friends seem rotten to the core, why do many of them still seem fulfilled and happy? Because they've got one facet of it correct, just maybe not the rest, but still having any facet is good.

We all have our struggles and experiences and we all must learn something in the end to grow. Pain equals growth. We can't run from it so we can only do one thing, face it and embrace it, let it hurt, let it hit us like a train, own up to things, face them, apologize, ask for forgiveness, redempt ourselves, fix what we can, and the rest we leave that behind in the fire of time, in the past, to break down in time like vegetables rot in quality soil.

All we can do is live, love, forgive, and strive to be good. And I'm okay with that, I think that will make me happy.

What a terrible fucking pic, I can barely read it.

Look, I have issues with what you're sayin, you say that we're not animals and with our intelligence we can liberate ourselves from impulse. I'm worried about exactly that, if I decide my emotion isn't who I really am and decide to act purly based on reason and intelligence then wouldn't I be like a calculator, or computer, in human form always making the most rational choices?
> then what does it mean to be human? are we just here to turn this mess of emotion into a rational being and function as that?
wouldn't that make everything predictable? I think so

I do know you. Better than you think. Especially since you're so close-minded and say "that's irrelevant" to every point I make.

Truth...what happens when you find out the ultimate truth? In the end, you're not happy. Telling me you're happy with yourself is not only a lie to me, but a lie to yourself. Come on. Nobody who takes life that seriously is happy.

The search itself provides temporary enjoyment. What I'm talking about is not temporary; the ability to enjoy anything and everything.

I do know you. I was once where you are. And you take life too seriously. There is no enjoyment in seriousness.

>Do you realize how arrogantly stoic and foolish it is to think we, something as futile as bacteria, in the grandeur of the universe to say there is no God.
I don't claim there is no God. I say there is no reason to believe that this is God.
>Science is good but science can't explain everything.
Science and logic are the only tools we have that appear to work.
>Come on, I don't claim to know the answers
That's exactly what religious people claim.
>What would you say about that?
I would say that believing something to be true does not make it true. I would say that you can be deceived, both by others and by yourself. I would say that human memory and perception are demonstrably unreliable.
>Do you believe all our experience and stimuli is information going into a processor and user experience isn't important or feelings are just results of chemical stimuli?
That isn't how I would word it, but that is what the evidence suggests.
>What happens to that person and why can't scientists so called "recreate it" sunshine?
What are you talking about? "Spiritual" experiences can be analyzed and recreated.

Yeah, some people are just naturally more in tune with the truth.

I tend to see and notice that people who are massively opposed to these kind of ideas tend to be really bitter and miserable, and I'm not saying all of them, some are intelligent and have very wholesome lives I'm sure, but on average those that snap at you, call you stupid, call you ridiculous, they're operating on impulse, their life tends to be an emotional mess and sometimes it's more evident, sometimes less.

BUT once you talk to them, some soften up and actually open up to you, some run off like a dog into the wilderness and mess of their lives.

But you can't be upset at anyone, even those that ridicule you and mock you because we all have our journey to our destination and it's okay to choose your path, it's our right to choose it. Yet the consequences of our path tend to be stronger and harder the more bitter, impulsive, violent, aggressive, blocked in we are.

When you open your mind your life tends to flow more smoothly and effortlessly, you do things with more easy, you destress, you enjoy the little moments more, you enjoy your food more.

I know what the truth is for me.

Hang on. I think I understand. Let me translate your long, rambling post for you:
>Woo. Woo woo. Magic woo, fuck logic, ooga booga woo. Woo? Woo woo woo. Nonsense with a dash of woo. Syllables + Grammar = Truth. Woo.
Did I miss anything?

>I do know you. Better than you think.
Prove it.
>Especially since you're so close-minded and say "that's irrelevant" to every point I make.
It isn't close-minded to evaluate your statements and then determine that they are irrelevant.
>Truth...what happens when you find out the ultimate truth?
Exactly what it says on the tin: you know the "ultimate" truth.
>In the end, you're not happy.
You could be.
>Telling me you're happy with yourself is not only a lie to me, but a lie to yourself.
False. All you're doing is confirming that you don't know me.
>What I'm talking about is not temporary
Yes, it is. You will eventually die, and then your temporary enjoyment is over.
>I do know you.
Clearly you don't.
>I was once where you are.
If only I had a dollar for every time I've had someone tell me that, only to then have them proceed to describe how they weren't where I am at all.

How can you be sure you will have no regrets when you die?

That's a tremendously cocky statement and there is no way you can believe that with 100 percent certainty.

You're an absolute fool if you think that your values, your thoughts and what you believe in will be the same when you're aged, or even 5 or 10 years from now.

Wake up man. Do you realize just how much time changes people?

There are people you will see from high school that you wouldn't recognize just a few years down the line, I'm talking physically and even mentally.

Wake. Up. Please. Please wake up from your slumber.

I don't know the answers and I don't claim to know them.

I just know that certain emotions are much more powerful and transcend others.

For example, love will always trump fear. And once you get to the core of that emotion, that value you really care about and understand what it really means to you, the things you will die for, the ideas, the family you will die for, the friends, then you understand love.

Out of fear people will do just enough, but out of love people will go above and beyond, above and beyond. That's truth, that's what I'm on my journey for, I just want to know the truth. I want the truth. I want the truth. I want the truth.

I just want to find the truth.

>Wake up, please. Be unhappy. Wake up.
No.

I have no regrets, you can be 100% certain if you have the right mentality which is understanding it's all the same and backing your choices or by not analyzing it like a mortal would, no regrets is simply no regrets,, it's looking back in retrospect and realizing that they're Your experiences and you wouldn't change or trade them for anything else because they make you.. I don't see it as cocky dude..

I'm not the dude you're talking to, but I find your habit of speaking only in nondemonstrable platitudes highly irritating.
Hypothetical: Boy (you) meets girl. Fall in love. Yadda yadda. Parents like girl. You love parents and girl equally. At parent's house, girl brings out gun and threatens to shoot parents. Fires shot into mom's leg to show sincerity. You have a gun. Watch girl aim at parent's head. You just going to sit there because you love her? I wouldn't, and I'm married, and my parents are dead.

Where did I say you need to be unhappy?

Let me break this down for you. From 15 to 20 I was so called "happy." I got my first car early on, I partied, I drank, I had girlfriends, I had fun, it was awesome.

Then the dread of life set in and I realized just how empty and fleeting all those things are.

Operating from impulse and not from a healthy state of mind usually only brings you more trouble and chaos into your life.

Where did I say not to be happy? The goal IS to be happy.

I want to be happy, I want to find the truth, I want to live in harmony of my values and those I love and care about.

I don't want to show the world a certain me and inside be a different me, I want to be the same me all around, a good me, a happy me, a man of conviction, yet of love, a strong man, yet a gentle human who can forgive, love, and understand.

What's wrong with that? How is what I'm saying negative in any way?

My intentions are pure, I don't know why you're convoluting my thoughts/actions or whatever it is you're trying to do or you're just arguing for arguing's sake.

I don't know anymore, but I hope that you find your truth. We're all searching for it one way or another, some are just still under a heavy fog.

Oh from that point of you it's correct. It's like people that say if I went back to high school I'd socialize more and make more friends, yet how you did it is exactly how it was supposed to happen.

Plus people tend to forget their mental limitations, problems, issues and only look back in retrospective awe like old people with their "good old times."

Like one man said, they weren't all that good. All we have is now, the now, the present, and it's accelerating at an ever expanding pace and we need to make the most of it.

So, what? You're 22 and having your first big boy thoughts? You're nowhere near as deep or enlightened as you think you are, kid. You don't have a superior outlook on life or a "more correct" perspective. Tell me this: What is your purpose?

Ok ask me something, a detailed question, something specific and I will either tell you a story of my life relating to that or about someone I know. I'm just touching up on the ideas of people posting by responding to them, no one really asked me to give an example.

Gay

I misunderstood your intentions with that post. I know that my spiritual beliefs will stay the same, no matter what happens. I don't have to know 100% of the details to know it works. When I drive a car, I don't think about every little firing of the cylinder.

All I do is enjoy the good times when I can, and learn from the bad ones what I can. And I appreciate what I have when I have it. For that, I can say I will have no regrets.

What? Am I preaching stupidity or lack of common sense? No.

If your life is being threatened you need to make measures to protect yourself.

But tell me about all these homeowners who shoot young guys, punks, who came in to steal their TV....can they shoot them in their leg? Yes. Why do they kill them? How can you kill someone over a damn TV, most burglars are not there to hurt you and we all know this....but once they show that they're able or willing or wanting to harm you then go all at it man, protect yourself.

My brother says the same thing, if your sister was getting raped would you turn the other cheek? LOL.

But the fact of the matter is if you stay away from wrong crowds, bad people, bad places then the odds of something bad happening to you becomes minute, but when it does it does I guess.

What's your point anyway?

...

What is my purpose? I'm 27 by the way, turn 28 next month.

What's my purpose you say? I don't know, I'm trying to find the truth and wisdom to guide me through life, but what I think it is is to be a loving person, a good citizen, a guiding force in society, I want to be a teacher and teach middle school or high school kids to make the right choices and make commendable actions and to teach them good strong values from a young age.

I just want to live my life as a good person and die with a good heart. Tell me, is that a bad thing to strive for?

I don't get why all the hate.

I get this in a way, I believe I've transcended acting from a place of fear by majority and know to act in love, I do love but it's not working, I believe in it but it's not working, I see people who are basically sociopaths take to life like fish in water and me who wants love and the truth out of this experience be treated as an enemy and while I don't believe this is a punishment, if it isn't hardship then I don't know what it.. I just don't think love is very motivating after a certain point, there isn't reward for it, me being human I have emotional needs ( companionship, happiness, inspiration) and love + effort isn't =ing reward which is stupid if love is the point.. not saying love isn't the answer, just I think maybe because I'm an old soul and came in with a cheat sheet I'm being tested more thoroughly to prove a point. I don't know though.

Value is relative, as are morals and though processes. I honestly couldn't care less about how your anecdotal situations led to your specific neuronal responses. You're made of the same basic elements I am, with the same directionless timeline to live. Have you faved your mortality yet? How many stages of Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development have you been through, yet? Have you found your purpose? What is most important in life? Did you know humans can only have 150 meaningful connections? How many do you have? Answer any one of those WITHOUT a story and let's see how enlightened you really are.

dude, you have to add qualifiers so people trust you, say like "you're not as enlightened as I am" so people konw your the authority on the subject. otherwise you seem like a child throwing around baseless insults.

I understand, I have a friend who thinks similarly, I think they call it nihilism or a nihilistic approach.

It's okay brother, sometimes in messages we come across hostile but my intention isn't to judge anyone or to hurt anyone or to belittle anyone.

I don't claim to know the truth, I just want to know it and find it and I want to be granted the wisdom and perseverance to live life the right way.

I just have this burning fire inside me that is hypersensitive to bullshit, to people's lies, to things that feel wrong, and I've come to the conclusion that besides being a good person there's nothing more for me in this world.

I don't claim that it's the truth and I understand for someone else their truth might be different, but that's my truth and it's what feels most right for me and we just go for what's most important to us, right?

I wish you a wonderful journey and for you to find your truth.

I must go soon so I wish you all a good life and the wisdom to live your life in a good way, a way that you'd be proud of.

lol

And what are "the right choices?"
Morality, and good/bad are entirely relative concepts. What right do you have to tell them what they should or shouldn't be doing?

You get all the hate because you came in here opening with spiritualism, which is just nonsense sold to idiots, and then act enlightened and well-rounded. You're a haughty contradiction full of hubris.

Nice strawman. I never claimed to be a guru. I'm asking OP why he thinks he's one.

You;re here for a reason, don't let your bitter thoughts misguide you. You come to these threads for a reason

I ask you this,

What part of you wants to be proven incorrect?
>the purpose being to invoke awareness of what's really driving you, your soul/consciousness

You need to cut those people out of your life completely and suddenly, with no explanation given and no calls or texts returned.

I am convinced that toxic people suck our energy and only drive us to doubt ourself, hate ourself, want to abuse substances and so forth and so forth.

Birds of a feather flock together and if you're being pulled to someone negative or destructive in your life, someone that will either share negative habits with you or that puts you down, hurts you emotionally and so forth, you're only inviting chaos into your life.

Sometimes it's hard because we love those who hurt us and hurt those who love us as they say, sometimes we're magnetized toward a person for some unknown reason, but I tended to start to realize that's usually our ego, our personality with some ideal of who we wanna be or what we want, some instant gratification, some wild fun, some other stupid thing.

When you sit down and think about the negative people in your life, those you've done a lot for and they've done mostly negative to you then just cut them off. Cut them off. Cut them off. Cut them out of your life and watch your life improve. Experiment.

Don't talk to negative people for a month and see how much better you feel. Change something and watch things improve. If you keep letting them seep into your life and suck your energy you'll feel the same depleted, stressed, and anxious.

I look back at my ex girlfriend from 10 years ago and now she's just a fleeting image, almost like she didn't exist although I loved her very much and was obsessed, now I think different, deeper, realize it really was just juvenile naiveness and nothingness. Her values were nothing like mine, we were too different, because when you meet the one the fire between you is so powerful you will never split, you will burn the world for this person.

There are truly evil people in this world, don't make them change you because even by association start killing your pure intentions.

It's like a drug dealer who meets someone who is clean, a friend of a friend, and it pisses him off that this person isn't using so he offers a cigarette, a free hit, a free drink, free this and that because he wants to share his misery.

Misery likes company. One of the truest statements.

Thing is, I have found my truth. And it's ambiguous. What I've found is that the very act of seeking enlightenment is what keeps us from it. The facebook post I posted on here earlier encompasses all of it. We're humans. Miniscule specks in the grandiosity of the universal scale. It would be arrogant to assume that we could scientifically figure out the secrets to life and consciousness itself.

Atheism preaches that we are just collections of molecules, reacting to the events and stimuli around us. Basically, we're robots, slaves to time. Religion preaches something more, but falls victims to mindless doctrines that a true benevolent God would not put into place.

Blend the two, and what do you get? Spirituality. Throw out all the bullshit, and take what you need. Science will never understand a true consciousness, and religion claims to know everything about God.

I'm saying throw out all the bullshit. Keep what's left.

OP here, I never claimed to be a guru either. I just provide fundamental principles on life.

fuck off new age faggot

My reason for being here is that I'm the ENTP-A (The Debater) personality type, and your OP was full of bullshit and woo. Don't project your "You came here to be proven wrong" horseshit onto me. My purpose is determined by me. Purpose, for everything, is not inherent. It is assigned. The first car had an inventory. That inventor designed the car with the purpose of covered transportation. A hippy who spray paints cars in the desert isn't missing a car. He's assigning it the purpose of being a canvas. Both are equally correct. Now, again, what are the "right choices" you want to shove onto kids as if you're intillectually superior?

Nobody is truly evil. Good and evil are just dualistic. Duality is what makes us believe there is a struggle between the two. There is no struggle. Everything just is or isn't.

You know it's funny you mention this, I was talking to a guy a little while back who said I try to be a good person, I go above and beyond for friends, I do good things, yet almost everyone in my life has taken advantage of me, cussed me out, used me, lied to me, and no one was really my true friend.

You're not the problem. They're the problem bud. They see your redeeming values, it pisses them off, it bugs them, they want you to be like them, but you're just not, you hold yourself to a higher standard, and it bugs them, WHAT YOU THINK YOU'RE BETTER OR HOLY OR HIGHER CLASS OR SOMETHING. It bugs them.

They say people don't like us for three reasons. They are threatened by us.....they're jealous of us.....or they really hate themselves, and around drug users it's always a combination of the three but the last one tends to be even more so common.

Stop berating yourself friend, because if you analyze yourself enough that you do good and people take advantage of you, and you self examine yourself to the point where you scrutinize your actions and strive to be good you're already eons ahead of them.

Cut them out of your life and move on to find better people in better places, wholesome places, hiking clubs, chess clubs, activity clubs, YMCA, or whatever else you do or strive for.

It's like those friends that only message you on MOndays because they know you get paid Mondays lol. Don't reply to those people, don't even give them the benefit of knowing where you are, what you're doing, or how you feel. Cut them off like an infected limb never to be seen again.

Hey could you hit me up on my email if you don't mind? I have to go but I'd like to carry on this conversation with you some time.

Would love to exchange ideas and thoughts about this, you've obviously done a lot of thinking on this.

I for one tend to despise organized religion. As soon as I see any preacher selling something, some are still wholesome because they do it in a selfless unaggressive way, but as soon as I see them pushing a product in an aggressive or semi aggressive manner I understand they're false preachers because the truth is free, no one is forced to pay for anything.

If you give you give out of the goodness of your heart.

So would you take an ex murderer into your home and let him babysit your kids? I mean they're not truly evil, they just delve into it sometimes.

Come on man.

Personally violent people who don't repent terrify me, and not in the physical sense like they can hurt me or kill me, that's okay, we all die one day anyway and I've already kind of almost died before and in a way that has given me peace because I've realized I could already be gone.

But what terrifies is in what state of their mind are they in, how spiritually tormented they are and what are they capable of and how much damage have they already caused that they would rob, assault and even kill and not repent for it.

I believe there is evil that is redemptive, able to be reconciled, and there is such an evil that it's beyond reparation. I believe it comes down to intentions.

If you've done something very, very bad but it wasn't your intention to cause that I can't blame you. I understand it can cause some mental damage, physical damage, even death, like someone hits a person with their car, but they didn't mean to. They're not the same as the wife who intentionally ran her husband over obviously.

Your purpose is determined by you? What, to "prove OP wrong"? Or to be proven wrong? There are few possible "reasons" for being in this thread.

The question is, what are you seeking from this debate? If for some reason you were to convince me of your views, what would you get out of it?

OP here. It's foolish to think that everything you do is a result of your wanting to do it, that you have complete control of your actions and reactions. There are too many variables for that.

What is your email?

[email protected]

But take care bud, send me a message whenever you can, for now I'm gonna go relax and clear my head and play some chess.

I'm trying to deal with my own life and problems and trying to stay true to myself so I can only listen to debate or other people's problems so much before I start getting down on myself and start stressing, worrying and digressing too much....I need to go take some time to myself.

Take care brother. Good to see other people searching for the truth.

damn, I didn't expect you guys to get my situation based on the little I wrote, I think you're right with the "cut the abusive people out" deal because that's what I'm dealing with currently, like I'm anguished that I invested so fully and that they didn't "get it" and my time with them has ended. I'm just saying I'm glad you understood my choice because even though I made that decision it is a heavy fucking weight on my emotion separating..

anyway, didn't think my vague thoughts contributed on whim would result in anything beneficial so I guess I'm just stoked that they did, much appreciation bros.

Well, friend, metaphysics disagrees with you. I believe in Libertarianism (in metaphysics.) Who are you to tell me Determinism is the "correct" answer when, again, all values/morals are subjective?
Also, I don't have a purpose in this thread. I came in here because I was a victim of religion for most of my childhood a d was liberated by my uncle asking me how I "know the Bible is true." I realized I couldn't, studied world religions, and decided none of them convinced me. Spiritualism is just religion without tenets. Still believing in nonsense like collective counsiousness and cosmis energy and other unverifiable, likely false propositions.

It's all me, one guy lol.

I just understnad where you're coming from because I've been there personally.

Hell no. That would be ignorant foolishness.But I don't sit there in judgment. I'm saying don't judge things that happen as good or evil. They just happen.

Sure thing. I'm not much for email, but I do have one. I'll send one now.

then thank you, i needed it

Only unverifiable by conventional scientific means. What I'm talking about is a realization that can only come from within. No amount of external events or science is going to prove or disprove it.

Of course brother, I'm telling you, don't waste any more time and second thoughts on this. Just. Cut. Them. Off.

The thing is our minds work in a funny way, whether people are bad or good we tend to stick to those we associate with over time, time itself and time spent bonds us to those people and they feel like a "friend" when they're truly not. They could be very much a wolf in sheep's clothing with one goal, to use, abuse, and throw you into the gutter once they're done with you.

I know this because I've been thrown in the gutter. Wisdom comes in where you can cut them off before it gets to the stage before they throw you into the gutter.

Let me tell you how one of my friendships with such a friend of a few years ended like. I was broke, demoralized, done, I was an addict at the end of a 2.5 year heroin addiction......

This is a person I did so much for, gave countless rides, took care of, bought food, shared with. You know what she said? I quote, "You can't even afford a Slurpee."

Now this is someone I've done so much good things to, yet they still felt the need to hurt me. It's a story I will tell my kids if I have them one day to teach them about toxic people.

Take care brother and don't hesitate to make good changes in your life. If it feels good and right and you don't have a bad gut feeling about it, DO IT TODAY. And sometimes doing something is doing nothing.

If you're ever in a situation and have a gut feeling about it, LEAVE IMMEDIATELY. Tell them oh I gotta go get something from my car, and then just leave. No words, no explanations, and cut them out of your life.

Best of luck to you friend. Wish you a good run on this journey we're on.

Well I'd give you my social media but I don't have any social media. I have steam for counter strike. is that better?